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charge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

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Sworn and subscribed to before me, this (twenty-fourth) day of (May), 1867. WALTER CARROLL, Notary Public.

Deputy surveyors are required to verify by their oath that the surveys embraced in their contracts have been executed in strict conformity with instructions, the requirements of the surveying Manual, and the laws of the United States. The deputy cannot consistently make this oath if the work is done by separate parties in other parts of the field from that in which he is himself operating; therefore, by a rule of the department, deputy surveyors are required to execute the surveys named in their contract "in their own proper persons," and to make oath that of their own personal knowledge the work is done in accordance with instructions and the laws of the United States, and no surveys not so executed and attested will be paid for.

It will be seen, therefore, that a deputy surveyor can take but one surveying party into the field at one time, and that party must be under his own supervision in person.

When one deputy does the work under a joint contract, he may verify the same.-When two deputies enter into joint contract for certain surveys, and only one of them goes into the field, if that one, with a single surveying party, executes all the work in person, his affidavit alone as surveyor, attached to the field notes, will be deemed sufficient, and no impediment to the payment of his account will result therefrom.

Two active deputies under a joint contract each to verify his own work.—If two deputies, joint parties in a contract, both go into the field, each with a separate surveying party, the field notes must show clearly the particular surveying

done by each deputy. The date and the name of the deputy will be stated at the beginning and end of the notes of every continuous part of such survey executed by him, so that it may be distinctly seen by whom each mile of line was run.

The following form of affidavit is prescribed, to be attached to the field notes in cases of joint surveys, to wit:

FORM OF AFFIDAVIT FOR JOINT SURVEYS.-"I, A. B., deputy surveyor, do solemnly swear that, in pursuance of a joint contract, wherein A. B. and C. D. are joint contractors with S. G., United States Surveyor-General for bearing date the day of 18, I have well, faithfully, and truly, in my own proper person, and in strict conformity with the instructions furnished by the Surveyor-General, the surveying Manual, and the laws of the United States, surveyed all those parts or portions of as are represented in the foregoing field notes as having been surveyed under my direction; and I do further solemnly swear that all the corners of said surveys have been established and perpetuated in strict accordance with the surveying Manual and printed instructions, and that the foregoing are the true and original field notes of such survey."

The separate affidavit of each deputy, in the above form, will be attached to the field notes of joint surveys.

Operations in the Field when to commence.-The surveys cannot be commenced in advance of the year for which the means is provided by Congress, and no moneys can be used to pay for work done before they were appropriated. This is an invariable rule, to be rigidly observed.

The object of this restriction is to keep back the surveying operations to the legitimate period of time contemplated in the appropriations. These appropriations are made with reference to the current necessities of given years, and if allowed to be absorbed in advance, the purposes of Congress in providing stated sums annually to carry forward the public surveys would be defeated.

[It would be much better both for the deputies and for the government if Congress would change the present custom of making the surveying appropriations at the

last of the session. By this system a large portion of the best part of the year is passed before the appropriations are made. The deputies are thereby prevented from going early into the field, and the season for active operations is greatly curtailed. The natural tendency of this system is to cause an undue pressure of work as the close of the season approaches.]

In order, however, to enable deputy surveyors to avail themselves of as much of the season belonging to the fiscal year as possible, the Surveyor-General is notified by mail or telegraph, as circumstances may determine, when the appropriations are passed, but no surveying chargeable to such appropriation must be done before receiving such notice.

THE SURVEYING MANUAL AND INSTRUCTIONS OF THE COMMISSIONER ARE MADE A PART OF THE SURVEYING CONTRACTS BY LAW.

By the 2d section of the act of Congress entitled "An act to reduce the expenses of the survey and sale of the public lands in the United States," approved May 30th, 1862, it is provided: "That the printed Manual of Instructions relating to the public surveys, prepared at the General Land Office, and bearing date February twentysecond, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, the instructions. of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and the special instructions of the Surveyor-General, when not in conflict with said printed Manual or the instructions of said Commissioner, shall be taken and deemed a part of every contract for surveying the public lands of the United States.”

CONTRACTS MUST BE APPROVED BY THE COMMISSIONER.

The 1st section of the act of May 30th, 1862, provides that contracts for the survey of the public lands shall not become binding upon the United States until approved

by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, except in such cases as the Commissioner shall otherwise especially order.

In the more remote districts, as for instance California, Oregon, and Washington Territory, the Commissioner's approval is given in advance, with certain limitations, to avoid impracticable delays.

PRESCRIBED LIMITS FOR CLOSINGS AND LENGTH OF LINES IN CERTAIN CASES.

1. Every north-and-south section line, except those terminating in the north boundary of the township, must be 80 chains in length.

2. The east-and-west section lines, except those terminating in the west boundary of the township, are to be within 100 links of the actual distance established on the south boundary line of the township for the width of said tier of sections.

3. The north boundary and south boundary of any one section, except in the extreme western tier, are to be within 100 links of equal length.

4. The meanders within each fractional section, or between any two meander posts, or of a pond or island in the interior of a section, must close within 1 chain and 50 links.

5. In running random township exteriors, if such random lines fall short or overrun in length, or intersect the eastern or western boundary, as the case may be, of the township, at more than 3 chains and 50 links north or south of the true corner, the lines must be retraced, even if found necessary to remeasure the meridianal boundaries of the township.

MEASURING DISTANCES OVER LAKES AND RIVERS,*

It frequently happens in surveying the public lands that lakes, rivers, and bayous, the distance across which cannot be measured with the chain, interrupt the public lines. The following illustrations will assist the inex

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perienced surveyor in passing such obstacles. They are given on the principle of reducing the base, whatever

*The four following illustrations are taken from Burt's "Key to the Solar Compass." Mr. Burt was the inventor of this instrument, which is a great improvement on the magnetic compass, and has been adopted by the government to be used in the running of standard and township lines.

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